Lincoln Baseball Coach Charged With Embezzlement

LINCOLN, RI—State police have arrested a Lincoln High teacher and baseball coach. Andrew Hallam, 32, of Warwick, is being charged with embezzlement. He will be arraigned in Third District Court today.

The charges stem from a complaint the Town of Lincoln School Committee made about funds missing from the high school baseball team's fundraising effort.

"During the investigation," state police said, "it was learned that the baseball team contracted with an outside agency, Adrenaline Fundraising, to assist with fundraising for their team. The agreement between Adrenaline and the school was for the players to sell discount cards for $20 each, with the proceeds being split 50/50. The high school baseball coach, Andrew Hallam, would collect the money from the players and provide the funds to Lincoln High School. At the end of the fundraising period, Coach Hallam would meet with the Adrenaline representative, at which point Coach Hallam would determine how many total cards were sold and return the unsold cards back to Adrenaline. Adrenaline would then send the school an invoice requesting payment in the amount of 50 percent of the total amount raised. A review of invoices, deposit slips and bank records revealed that for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 there were discrepancies in the total amount of money raised, per Adrenaline Fundraising, and the amount deposited in the student activity bank account for a total amount of $8,440. The investigation revealed that Andrew Hallam allegedly embezzled a total of $8,440 from Lincoln High School."

Patch will update this story.